This question has always intrigued me. What is the difference - lotus/Lilly? Childhood explanations were lotus is pink,lily( Naidile) is white, lotus blooms in the day and lilly at night,lilly is smaller. Somehow in my mind they were always inter changable.
I actaullly love to differentiate between closely species(?not just) like I want to see what is really different between koreans japanese chinese in appearance, wild dogs of the world and wolf, how different they are, Chimps bonobos orangutans, white and pink temple tree. bothers me untill I get the exact difference. No wonder I think I am really blessed to be born in the days of internet.
Actually white and pink temple tree is an interesting one, I looked up all over the place trying to look for species of plumeria.. no-where did I see anyone differentiating between the two. Ive always noticed that some plumeria plants are just so handsome and some.. well they are gawky.. flowers are the same except for the scent. I was looking up bangalore trees.. I wanted to find the name of those huge trees that grow all over bangalore, about 10 ft dia trunk on residency road near mayo circle? Its called MaLe mara..Rain tree..(Of south American origin, I had always pictured this tree to be from Africa.. I cud imagine it standing tall and alone in a vast grassland. but no :P)Thanks to rain tree, I found this wonderful blog http://www.wildwanderer.com/journal/flowering-trees/2/
Blog also lists Plumeria ( my temple tree!!!) and guess what there are actually two sub species. he says.. "There are 2 species of Temple Trees that are met with often. The Red Frangipani Plumeria rubra which is a somewhat odd-looking tree while the White Frangipani Plumeria alba is the more handsome. Both are of small stature; the former being deciduous and the latter evergreen" :-} That was an Aahan! moment :)
Anyway coming back to topic, Lily lotus . I saw a lotus plant in a nursery and they called it lilly, it has bloomed in the day and it was purple!! I searched a lot on the internet but it took me a long long while to figure out what exactly lotus is and what lilly is.. even wiki and google images didnt help... lot of misnaming of the flowers. many ppl are as confused about lilly lotus as me.
finally I figured out, thanks to my mum's artificial lotus bloom. It is not the usual floaty thing that u get, but it is actually like this....
You know what ? I realise, I had never ever seen lotus in the wild, all the pink white yellow ones I have seen in so many ponds and lakes all these years, were all lilies. I found this artificial lotus really weird. why is it like this.. such a tall stalk? he's made it like that so that it can be kept in a pot.. etc..I saw a few pictures of chinese gardens... Saw lotus. didnt figure , then I saw tiger hunting deer in a lake- Rantambore.. and ...there's lotus in the background!!! I dono if it is rantambore, Its that place in Rajasthan where there is a fort in the forest and the tigers roam around on that fort, there is a lake right next to the fort. Those lotus( hundreds!) were just like my mum;s a few feet above the water!!..So..Beautiful! sometimes I think may be I imagined it, fort- lake- tiger and then Lotus too!?!! and that evening sun, Nat geo/Discovery guys catch so often? Imagination? no...
Artists capture it beautifully if u lookup lotus paintings....compare that with monnet's water lillies.. how different these two are!
lilly leaves float on top of water, lotus leaves grow right up - upto height of a few feet above water. lily leaves are flat like a plate and lotus leaves.. so beautiful, wavy. lilly gives an appearance of a floating plant, lotus more stalky. lotus has its seeds at the center. The famous seed pod. ever eaten lotus seeds? Ive heard my grand mum's stories...she used to go to the lake to pluck and eat lotus seeds when she was little and one day she saw a crocodile! scary! must have been younger than 12, she got married at 12! If that is so.. then this was in 1920..1930s..
lilly just has pollen.. never seen lily seeds. lilly has thin conical petals, lotus has rounder petals.. the flower is actually quite different. fuller buds too. lotus is usually much bigger than lilly. but not always true I guess, there is the gaint lilly from the americas.
lilly comes in all colors usually with a yellow center. Lotus I think in very few white and pink.?.. Sacred lotus.. its awe inspiring, really!! not so lilly. You can grow lily in a 3ft dia tub... for lotus u need slush a few feet deep. hmmm. I have tiny lilies in my tub now :) one day I want to grow lotus. those foot wide flowers!! hmmm.
I know, Now I have them all figured out. I went to the nursery to buy lilies and when i saw the lotus I cud say - Ah! u have a lotus! how did u manage to grow it :D
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